Question Box

By Ray Corio

Published: December 25, 1989

Q. As a manager, how does the lawyer-manager Tony La Russa measure up against the four former managers who were also lawyers: Monte Ward, Hughie Jennings, Branch Rickey and Miller Huggins?

A. So far, so-so. Ranked by winning percentage, La Russa would fall fourth among the five, ahead of only Branch Rickey. That former St. Louis manager (three years with the Browns and seven with the Cardinals between 1913 and 1925) led teams that never finished higher than third place. His managing career ended with a 597-664 record and a .473 winning percentage. In 12 years as manager, La Russa's Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletic teams have a combined record of 851-746 for .533.

Among the other lawyer-managers, Ward had the best percentage (394-307 for .562), but he was a manager for only six years in the period of 1884-94, and his teams never finished higher than second. Jennings guided the Detroit Tigers for 14 years (1907-20), won American League pennants in his first three, but never won a World Series. His career ledger reads: 1,131 victories, 972 defeats and a .538 percentage.

As for Huggins, his managerial career intersected the rise of Babe Ruth and the Yankee dynasty in the 1920's. As Cardinal manager from 1913-17, Huggins won respect more than anything else. But while managing the Yankees from 1918-29, winning became a knack. When Huggins closed a 17-year managerial career, his record was 1,413-1,134 (.555), with six pennants and three World Series titles. Ranked by achievment, Huggins would be the only one of the lawyer-managers ahead of La Russa, who in his first 12 years has won three division titles, two pennants and one World Series. Dangerous Helmets

Q. In a close-up during a recently televised game involving the Houston Oilers, the helmet worn by the Oilers' player had the word ''Warning'' printed on it. Why?

A. Don't think of it as another intimidation tactic employed by Coach Jerry Glanville to signal how mean the Oilers are. Nor is it a message from the Surgeon General advising of a link between headgear and cancer. It is merely a standard reminder required on all helmets used in the National Football League to discourage malicious play and unnecessary roughness, as well as to soften the blow for insurance liability. The printing, however small, reads as follows:

''WARNING ''Do not use this helmet to butt, ram or spear an opposing player. This is in violation of the football rules and can result in severe head, brain or neck injury, paralysis or death to you and possibly to your opponent.

''There is a risk injuries may also occur as a result of accidental contact without intent to butt, ram or spear.

''No helmet can prevent all such injuries.'' Texas A&M's Weapon

Q. Broadcasters and reporters often talk about a 12th man in Texas A&M football. What's it about?

A. It's really about an extraordinary school spirit that carries on a 67-year-old tradition at every Aggie home game. In January 1922, according to Aggie lore, E. King Gill, who had played on the football team but was now a member of the basketball team, was in civilian clothes acting as a spotter in the press box for a Dixie Classic football game in Dallas against Centre College. Just before halftime, with several Aggies having been injured, Coach Dana X. Bible asked Gill to come down to the bench and put on a football uniform just in case he ran out of players. Gill complied, switching clothes with an injured player under the stands. Ever since, Aggie fans have remained standing throughout home games, representing a 12th man, prepared to go into the game if needed. And the fans' custom of yelling all game long has provided added ammunition to this secret weapon of the Aggies.

A year after Jackie Sherrill became head coach in 1982, he carried the symbolism a bit further, selecting a group of volunteer, nonscholarship, walk-on students to make up a kickoff team for all home games, which became known as the 12th-man team. Only the kicker is a member of the varsity; the other 10 players (rotated each game) are bodies from the student body.

Sherrill is gone, but the unit remains and it has become a superb defensive weapon for the Aggies. In covering 159 kickoffs over the last seven years, the 12th-man team has allowed an average return ranging from 13 to 23 yards, but it has never allowed a touchdown. That streak will be on the line (presumably the Texas A&M 35) on Saturday when the Aggies play Pittsburgh in the John Hancock Sun Bowl in El Paso, for Coach R. C. Slocum has promised to reward the successful 12th-man act by taking it on the road. Ware vs. Aggies

Q. How successful was Andre Ware, the University of Houston's record-setting quarterback, when his team played Texas A&M this season?

A, His team lost and his performance was decent enough, but it was certainly not what voters had in mind when Ware was awarded the Heisman Trophy seven weeks later as college football's outstanding player. In the game on Oct. 14 at College Station, Tex., Houston, a team that averaged nearly 54 points a game and never scored fewer than 39 in each of its 10 other games this season, was shackled and beaten, 17-13.

Ware completed 28 passes in 52 attempts for 247 yards and a touchdown. But his longest completion was for only 26 yards, he was intercepted 3 times, he was sacked 6 times for a total of 46 yard, and his only rushing attempt resulted in no gain of yardage. He may not have been stopped cold, but his showing was clearly lukewarm.

Question Box is a regular feature of SportsMonday. Readers are invited to submit questions concerning any aspect of sport: statistics or strategies, rules or records. The address is Question Box, SportsMonday, The New York Times, 229 West 43d Street, New York, N.Y. 10036. Questions not published cannot be answered individually.